Only the lonely

One of the walls and the bouldering island at Garden State Rocks

I am generally all for solo workouts.  And no crowds.  Crowds make me irrationally angry.  Especially slow-moving crowds.  

Lately, I've been getting annoyed when there are two or three other people at my gym in the morning. It's a small-ish gym in our building, and up until recently, I was often the only person working out, which was completely fine with me. If there's four or five other people there, I'll complain that it's too crowded.

So when I saw that there was a new rock climbing gym, Garden State Rocks, open near my dad's house (and by new, I mean I had never heard of it before - it's possible that it's been there for a while) I was excited to try it out.  Usually when I go climbing, I go to Brooklyn Boulders after work (when I can convince someone to trek to Brooklyn with me on a school night).  The place is huge, but its always jam packed.

I decided to check out Garden State Rocks on a Saturday morning, right after it opened for the day.  I knew that it was pretty small compared to Brooklyn Boulders, but I figured that it would be fairly quiet, which would mean that, being a relative newbie to this whole thing, I wouldn't feel too intimidated. 

Off I went on my first solo outing to the rock climbing gym.

I definitely was right on the being fairly quiet and small fronts.  In fact, it was pretty dead.  It was a nice day out, and apparently there was a bouldering competition at another nearby gym, so all the regulars were either there or climbing outside.  Also, apparently Saturdays aren't a super busy time to begin with.  

Besides myself, there was a group of about 15 kids there for a birthday party, and then two other groups of 2-3 people learning how to top rope (i.e. climb up the higher wall harnessed in with somebody on the ground controlling the ropes so that you don't fall).

While I was excited at first, I quickly realized that this was a fatal mistake.

I went to a rock gym by myself at a time that was pretty dead. That means that I was only going to be able to boulder (i.e. climb up the smaller walls with no harness and pads underneath in case you fall).  It also meant that I didn't have any natural breaks built in, and I didn't think to pace myself. Despite it being a small gym, there were a lot of great routes that I wanted to try.  I went from one route to another, from one attempt at a route, right to the next attempt. 

Which means that I got tired. Quickly.  With nobody else there to share the bouldering wall with, there were no built in breaks as I waited for others to complete their routes.  Or as I made friendly chit chat with the other climbers. And without the assistance of a harness, once I was on the wall, I either had to complete my climb or get off.  There was no hanging around in the air, taking a break or trying to figure out my next move.

It also meant that it was difficult to see my routes.  Routes are marked by colored pieces of tape on the underside of the hold.  Ideally, you should look at the wall before you start climbing and plan your general route. 

But, you know, the best laid plans.  Once you get on the wall, it's sometimes really hard to see the colors of the holds that you want to use for your feet.  When you're with a buddy, or even if there's just a nice bystander watching your climb, they will often help you out by pointing out where your feet should be, or what your next move should be.  You know, things like "you've got that blue hold right by your left knee" and you can proceed to move your foot onto that hold.  This eliminates much of the need to try to contort your body to see if that hold is actually for your route.

When you're the only one climbing, it becomes much more about trying to figure things out on your own.  You really have to plan a path ahead of time and think on your feet to make it work sometimes.

Plus, I was cheap and didn't rent a a chalk bag, which means I started to get blisters. Now, I don't think of my hands as particularly sweaty or anything - I mean, people don't generally jump away when I offer a handshake - but apparently my left pinky and the holds did not get along very well and I got a blister.  It's still not healed.

So, what have we learned today, class?  Sometimes, it pays to have a friend.  Even if you have to pay for them. Your parents were right all along about the buddy system. And, don't be cheap.  Spring for the chalk bag.

Don't get me wrong.  I still had a lot of fun and got in a great workout.  But I was pooped in less than 45 minutes.  Definitely not the crazy long workout activity that I was planning to  get for my $17 day pass and $5 shoe rental fee. 

It's ok though.  I cut my losses and took my tired self to the mall for some new clothes.  I'm pretty sure I had residual chalk all over my black workout capris.  And I probably didn't smell too hot.  The free frappuccino samples were well worth it though.